Student protests turn violence in Medan, Mataram
JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of students here and in at least seven other cities across the country staged rallies yesterday and on Monday in protest at the New Order administration's handling of the deepening economic crisis.
Violence leading to injuries of both students and security officers were reported during Monday's protests in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, and Medan, the capital of North Sumatra.
In Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Pontianak in West Kalimantan, Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara, Purwokerto in Central Java, and in Yogyakarta, student protests proceeded peacefully.
Yesterday, 200 Moslem students staged a brief free-speech forum in the compound of the provincial legislators office in Surabaya, although the office was closed for the Islamic new year holiday at the time.
In Pontianak yesterday, scores of Moslem students staged a rally in the grounds of the town's Mujahiddin mosque. They called on national leaders to perform Islah, changing something bad by performing a good action.
In Mataram, at least three students and one police officer sustained injuries when Monday's rally deteriorated into a clash. Four students were arrested and taken away for interrogation, according to Antara.
The injured were taken to Mataram general hospital intensive care unit for treatment, it said.
The news agency also said the scuffle between students and security personnel broke out when police tried to push students back onto their campus after they successfully marched along a public street for over one kilometer.
Both parties engaged in stone throwing and several gunshots were reportedly fired into the air to disperse thousands of marching students, the news agency said.
The protesting students were from Mataram University, Muhammadiyah University, and Islamic College (STAIN).
During their protest, they condemned the government for leading the country into a recession which has seen the price of daily essentials soar.
Mataram University Rector Mulyanto was seen among the students some time after the clash broke out, soothing them and asking them to return to the campus.
In Medan, several student protests took place separately at North Sumatra University, North Sumatra Islamic University, North Sumatra Muhammadiyah University, Medan Institute of Technology and St. Thomas Catholic University.
There was a repeat of Friday's scenes when students threw Molotov cocktails at security personnel, who responded by firing volleys of teargas near the entrance to the North Sumatra University.
"We don't intend to shoot the students, but we don't want them to get too near to us," Medan Police Chief Lt. Col. Nono Priyono, who was at the scene, said.
Over one hundred students standing 200 meters away from the entrance gate mocked the officers, and threw stones and petrol bombs, but retreated after tear gas canisters were fired.
North Sumatra police spokesman Lt. Col. Amrin Karim, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that no students had been detained. He added that "only eight students" had been taken in for questioning and all had subsequently been released.
In Kupang on Monday, 50 students from Nusa Cendana University, Widya Mandira Catholic University, Artha Wacana Christian University, and Muhammadiyah University staged a protest at the El Tari airport.
The students demanded that Minister of Education Wiranto Arismunandar resign for failing to support student protests. The controversial minister was reportedly on a visit to the province, but students later found out this was not the case.
Another protest demanding Wiranto's resignation was staged in Purwokerto, Central Java, on Wijaya Kusuma University campus.
Over 1,000 students, watched by 100 riot police, also demanded the resignation of President Soeharto, whose New Order administration they said had failed to lead the nation out of the crisis.
Popular aspirations
In Jakarta on Monday, 200 students from Syarif Hidayatullah Institute for Islamic Studies called for reform and the resignation of Soeharto after attending a discussion featuring economist Emil Salim, noted Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid, and Golkar executive Irsyad Sudiro.
The students demonstrated briefly before they dispersed to say afternoon prayers.
During the discussion, Nurcholish defended the student demonstrations which he described as "politics which heeded popular aspirations", and something that should not be belittled by the government.
The scholar said it would be unfair for the government to dismiss the protests by saying the students had failed to provide suggestions on how to solve the crisis.
The students were voicing the people's aspirations and the demonstrations were a moral movement which the government must heed, he said. (21/45/nur/rid/aan)